The patent of Basavanhally et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,590, granted Aug. 4, 1992, hereby incorporated herein by reference, describes a method for arranging the ends of component fibers of an optical fiber bundle into a matrix configuration. The patent points out that a precisely accurate matrix configuration is required, for example, for free-space photonics switching. Optical fiber bundles are also used in other communication equipment for the parallel transmission of large quantities of information in the form of light.
Various techniques have been described for splicing individual optical fibers, that is, abutting successive fibers at their ends with sufficient precision that light can be transmitted through the juncture. One can appreciate that individual splicing of component optical fibers of an optical fiber bundle is time consuming, and adds to the bulk of optical fiber bundles. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,796, of Bonanni et al., granted Apr. 4, 1991, describes optical fiber connectors that can be used to splice the fibers of two optical fiber ribbons. The array of fibers spliced extends in only one direction, rather than two directions, as is true of optical fiber bundles. Accordingly, there is a long-felt need in the industry for a method for conveniently splicing or interconnecting abutting optical fiber bundles, each comprising a plurality of light transmitting optical fibers, with sufficient precision that information-containing lightwaves can be efficiently transmitted through each juncture.